VLC and audio lag issues are perhaps more common than they really should be. Under Linux, pulse-audio seems to be a common thread.

However there doesnt appear to be a magic "fix" to cure all.

So here are a few things you could try:

1. Check that you haven't changed the Audio synchronisation: Tools - Track Synchronisation should be set to zero


2. Check that other preferences havent affected audio tracking: Tools > Preferences and click the Reset Preferences button


3. Use Alsa instead of Pulse-Audio for output: From the VLC menu, choose Tools > Preferences > Audio. Change the Output from Default to Alsa



4. If using Natty - revert to using interrupt driven mode instead of time-scheduled mode

   
   
   

   modify the following line in /etc/pulse/default.pa

   
   
   

   load-module module-udev-detect

   
   
   

   with :

   
   
   

   load-module module-udev-detect tsched=0

Use Alsa instead of Pulse-Audio for output: From the VLC menu, choose Tools > Preferences > Audio. Change the Output from Default to Alsa
^ This works